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Law (UK, EU and International): Legislation

Legislation

Legislation (law) is created by legislative assemblies such as:

  • The Westminster Parliament (for laws that apply to all the UK nations)
  • The Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly (for laws relating to devolved matters)
  • The European Parliament for laws affecting the member states of the European Union.

It is divided into primary and secondary legislation.

Enacted or consolidated?

Legislation can change over time. For example, sections of an Act may be amended (changed) or repealed (removed).

Some sources provide unamended legislation, which is the law as originally passed (or enacted).

Some sources provide amended (or consolidated) legislation, which is the law currently in force including any changes made.

UK legislation and bills, and where to find them

Legislation comes in two forms:

Primary legislation means Acts of Parliament (also known as Statutes). They create new law or change existing law.  Acts begin life as Bills and become Acts when they receive Royal Assent.  You can find more about Acts on the UK Parliament website.

Secondary legislation derives its authority from primary legislation.  The most common type is Statutory Instruments (or SIs), also known as delegated legislation. SIs are regulations, rules or orders made under the authority of an Act of Parliament.  Find more about delegated legislation from the UK Parliament website.

You can find legislation in:

Online databases

These provide access to the latest information/legislation.  You should consult these first and only use the print collection if the material you require is not included in these databases.

  • Lexis+  Amended legislation.  Includes: Acts and SIs of the UK Parliament; Acts and SIs of the Scottish Parliament; and Acts and Measures of the National Assembly of Wales.  The video below shows how to search for legislation on Lexis+.
  • Westlaw UK. Amended legislation. Includes: Acts & SIs of the UK Parliament; Local Acts; Church Measures; Acts & SIs of the Scottish Parliament; Acts & Measures of the National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland legislation.
  • legislation.gov.uk  Free website. Legislation as enacted and as amended (not updated as quickly as Lexis+ or Westlaw). Includes: Acts & SIs of the UK Parliament; Church Measures; Acts & SIs of the Scottish Parliament; Acts & Measures of the National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland legislation.  Find out how to search for legislation on Westlaw UK from its Finding legislation video.

Print collections

BU's print law collection contains materials that are not available electronically.  In some cases all of a particular title is provided in print, whereas for others there will be a mixture of print and electronic.

  • Current Law Statutes Annotated.  Unamended Acts in chronological order.  To use this, you need to know the year to Act was enacted.  Includes comments on the development and implementation of an Act.

A Bill is a proposal for new law or a proposal to change existing law. It must be approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, then receive Royal Assent (agreement from the reigning monarch) before it can become an Act of Parliament. You can find out more about the passage of a Bill on the UK Parliament website.

UK Parliament - Bills has all Bills currently before Parliament and and archive of Bills from previous sessions of Parliament.

Progress of Public Bills publishes a list every Friday (when Parliament is sitting) to provide updates on the progress of public Bills.

Westlaw UK includes bills and draft secondary legislation from the UK Parliament and the devolved legislatures.  Go to: Legislation > Bills & Drafts

European Union legislation and where to find it

Treaties are primary sources of EU law, setting out the overall objectives of the European Union. Every action taken by the EU is founded on treaties. You can find out more about treaties on the Europa website.

You can find the text of EU treaties in:

  • EUR-Lex includes founding treaties, accession treaties, other treaties and protocols.  Documents in EUR-Lex have unique identifiers called CELEX numbers.  Find out more about CELEX numbers here:  What does a CELEX number mean?

 

There are five types of EU secondary legislation:

  • Regulations - addressed to all Member States. To be applied in full and directly applicable
  • Directives - addressed to all Member States. Set an objective, but the national authority can decide how to achieve the objective within their own legal framework
  • Decisions - may be addressed to all Member States, or one Member State, or a company, or a group of individuals or one individual. Binding on the addressee and directly applicable
  • Recommendations and Opinions - are 'soft law' instruments and have no binding force. 

You can find out more about these on the Europa website.

EU secondary legislation can be found in:

  • EUR-LEX.  Search for secondary legislation.

COM docs include proposed legislation, communications and reports.

A CELEX number is a unique identifier for a document in EUR-Lex.  Further information can be found here: What does a CELEX number mean?